Record and controversies

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Environmental record

Indian Point nuclear power plant

In February 2009, Engel urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) not to approve the 20-year license renewal application of the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan, New York. Engel said he told NRC Commissioner Dale Klein, "Indian Point would never be built today at its present location because of its proximity to the millions of people in the New York metropolitan area. It is degrading the Hudson River by using its water, some two billion gallons daily, to cool the plant, and by the radioactive leakages that may have already reached the river." Engel also argued that Indian Point is "a very tempting target for terrorist," and said there are "too many other serious issues about the dangers of Indian Point’s nuclear reactors to ignore." [2]

DRIVE Act

On January 24, 2007, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) introduced the Dependence Reduction through Innovation in Vehicles and Energy Act – the DRIVE Act of 2007 – (H.R.670) to "promote the national security and stability of the United States economy by reducing the dependence of the United States on foreign oil through the use of alternative fuels and new vehicle technologies, and for other purposes." The bill attracted 82 cosponsors[3] (as of June 2007)

Bio

Engel was born February 18, 1947 in The Bronx. He graduated from Hunter-Lehman College. Engel was elected to the New York general assembly in 1976. In 1988, Engel was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives after defeating Congressman Mario Biaggi, who had been charged with racketeering in the Wedtech scandal, in the Democratic primary. (Biaggi was eventually jailed by Rudolph Giuliani and subsequently ran against and lost to Representative Engel in 1992).

Congressional career

Engel is a supporter of recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and has also been an advocate for the causes of Albanian-Americans. In 2003, he authored the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act, which was signed into law by President Bush on December 12, 2003 [1]. In this Law, Congress authorized penalties and restrictions on US relations with Syria for its occupation of Lebanon and for its relationship with terrorist groups.

Committees: House Committee on Energy and Commerce, House Committee on Energy and Commerce/Subcommittee on Health, House Committee on Energy and Commerce/Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Foreign Affairs/Subcommittee on Europe, House Committee on Foreign Affairs/Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, House Committee on Foreign Affairs/Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere,